Haaland Nets Five As Man City Advance In FA Cup
28 February, 2024
Erling Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne ran riot as Manchester City thrashed Luton 6-2 to book their spot in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
FA Cup
Result: Luton Town 2-6 Manchester City
Date: 27 February 2024
Venue: Kenilworth Road
City manager Pep Guardiola made four changes from the win over Bournemouth, with goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish and Kevin de Bruyne.
The visitors only needed three minutes to find the back of the net as De Bruyne latched onto Nunes' reverse pass before picking out Erling Haaland to slam home from six yards out.
The lead was doubled in the 17th minute as Haaland held the ball up well before combining with De Bruyne to race clear on goal and slot into the back of the net despite the presence of goalkeeper Tim Krul. The Norwegian striker should have had a first half hat-trick, but he was let down by some surprising slack finishing after squandering two chances after 30 minutes.
There was a negative for the away side in the 39th minute when Grealish's injury troubles came back to haunt and he was replaced by Jeremy Doku on the left flank.
Haaland did complete his hat-trick on the stroke of halftime after latching onto another through-all from De Bruyne to go clear and lob the on-rushing Krul, silencing the home crowd once again.
Luton did give themselves some a minute later as Jordan Clark carved out some space from 25-yards out and sent a superb strike into the corner, leaving Ortega with no chance.
The hosts pulled another goal back seven minutes after the break when Ross Barkley turned provider again to play in Clark, who took one touch before volleying past Ortega from close range to complete his brace.
However, City added a fourth goal in the 55th minute when the same combination combined once again as De Bruyne unselfishly teed up Haaland to slot into an empty for his fourth goal of the game.
Haaland's special continued as he bagged his fifth goal three minutes later with a powerful finish in the box after being played in by Bernardo Silva.
The Norwegian was not the only City player to get on the score-sheet as Mateo Kovavic picked up the ball 25 yards out and found the top corner with a superb effort from distance in the 72nd minute to round off an emphatic win.
Source: www.snl24.com